Defending champions DHL Western Province U21 went down 29-20 against Vodacom Blue Bulls U21 in a hard-fought semifinal at DHL Newlands on Saturday.

In a tense match that could have gone either way, the visitors did enough in the end to secure a place in the final next week.

DHL Western Province U21 had their defence tested in the early stages and it held up well as they cleared the ball from their tryline and then scored the first points of the match through the boot of scrumhalf Jondre Williams.

The visitors showed good resilience and responded with two unconverted tries, as first right wing Earl Douwrie and then tighthead prop Monray Smith went over to give them a 10-3 lead.

DHL Western Province had the final word in the first half as a second penalty from Williams cut the Pretoria sides advantage to 10-6 after what had been a hard-fought 40 minutes.

Vodacom Blue Bulls U21 struck first in the second half as outside centre Stedman Gans scored under the poles to make it 17-6.

The home side responded with their first try from replacement hooker Schalk Erasmus, who powered his way over to reduce the defecit to four points, but the visitors then came up with a fourth try from flank Ewart Potgieter, which restored their 11-point advantage.

Vodacom Blue Bulls U21 prop Smith was shown a yellow card and DHL Western Province were awarded a penalty try soon afterwards following some dominant scrums.

That left them with two minutes to try and snatch a win, but it was not to be as the visitors held had the final say with a fifth try to seal the 29-20 win.

The scorers:

For DHL WP U21:
Tries: Erasmus, penalty try
Con: Williams
Pens: Williams 2

For Vodacom Blue Bulls U21:
Tries: Douwrie, Smith, Gans, Potgieter, Cronje
Cons: Douwrie 2

DHL Western Province U21: 15 Joshua Vermeulen, 14 Nico Leonard, 13 David Brits, 12 Lyle Hendricks, 11 Sihle Njezula, 10 Tristan Leyds, 9 Jondre Williams, 8 Zain Davids, 7 DHL Western Province U21: 15 Joshua Vermeulen, 14 Nico Leonard, 13 David Brits, 12 Lyle Hendricks, 11 Sihle Njezula, 10 Tristan Leyds, 9 Jondre Williams, 8 Zain Davids, 7 Muller Uys, 6 Nama Xaba (captain), 5 David Meihuizen, 4 Jordan Sesink-Clee, 3 Lee-Marvin Mazibuko, 2 Daniel Jooste, 1 Kwenzo Blose.
Replacements: 16 Schalk Erasmus, 17 Wikus Groenewald, 18 Carlu Sadie, 19 Jesse Johnson, 20 Pieter Swanpoel, 21 Labib Kannemeyer, 22 Cornel Smit, 23 Marko Labuschagne.